For six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you must cease, in order that your ox and your donkey may rest and that your female servant’s son and any hired help may refresh themselves.

[Exod 23:12 NET]

This is the gospel of labor—ring it,

Ye bells of the kirk

The Lord of Love came down from above

To live with the men who work.

This is the rose he planted, here

In the thorn-cursed soil;

Heaven is blest with perfect rest, but

The blessing of earth is toil.

~ Henry van Dyke ~

No man is born into the world whose work

Is not born with him. There is always work

And tools to work withal, for those who will;

And blessed are the horny hands of toil.

~ James Russell Lowell ~

My Father,

I pray for the love of work, and the desire to cultivate life. Stir me, that I may be ambitious. May I not stare at life in an everyday way and forget that others are watching for the surprises. Help me to be considerate and kind in all that I do.